forgop Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 My dad has approximately $19k in credit card debt. What would you do?Pay a settlement prior to death?Pay a settlement after death? Pay nothing? He has the money to pay it, but if I could save half of that money or more, than I'd obviously rather do that. I had one attorney tell me yesterday that she would advise some clients to not pay anything at all. Any suggestions?Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjtx Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 Talk to an attorney. Depending on your specific circumstances, the state you are in, etc. creditors may be able to go after someone else like his spouse, estate or authorized users.You may want to consider letting the attorney do the settlement negotiations if necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recovering Attorney Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 If you let them go, they are still charges against the estate, of properly submitted. Assuming there is life insurance to add to the pot, you might want to see if you can strike a deal now to save a little $$$. If your parent is getting his affairs in order, incluiding his will, ask the lawyer handling his estate plans what s/he thinks. You might get a different answer. Obviously, it is not about his credit as much as it is trying to minimize the impact on his estate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted January 5, 2008 Report Share Posted January 5, 2008 There is no way it will get to the estate before it closes. If you just ignore it dont bother to tell creditors they are terminally ill...if you did it still will probably not matter. Estates close usually in less than a year...sometimes much quicker. Just ignore the cc companies they have insurance for this AND since they are out to screw just about everyone these day with false claims galore I say screw them. My opinion is DONT PAY A DIME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isislc Posted January 5, 2008 Report Share Posted January 5, 2008 If you let them go, they are still charges against the estate, of properly submitted. Assuming there is life insurance to add to the pot, you might want to see if you can strike a deal now to save a little $$$. If your parent is getting his affairs in order, incluiding his will, ask the lawyer handling his estate plans what s/he thinks. You might get a different answer. Obviously, it is not about his credit as much as it is trying to minimize the impact on his estate.I would have to agree with Recovering Attorney. My mom recently passed away and we had to close her credit cards, they immediately made claims on the estate. My mom's bank accounts were frozen 2 days after her funeral, from my understanding with the CU, the money that was in there went to pay the cards who filed a claim. I was told that if there was no money in there, they would go directly to the Executor for payment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgop Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 I faxed in a power of attorney on my dad's cards. One is a GM card and the other is an AT&T through Citi. Both have balances right around $9500 each. I tried to negotiate a settlement with the GM card and they wouldn't budge a single penny as his payment history is perfect. My brother and I are going to clear out their accounts and put the money in a new account with our names on it. What's the worst that can happen if we just refuse to make any more payments. I know the sad thing about this is we hadn't made any payments at all the past 90 days, they'd settle for 50% in a heartbeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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